From Beyonce to Sousa: The Power of a Beat

As an undergraduate at the University of Iowa, I worked part-time as a home health aide. One of my regular clients was "John," a retired dentist and former big band leader from the 30s who was fighting Parkinson's disease.

John didn't have the "resting tremor" most commonly associated with the disease. In fact, he often complained that the doctors got it wrong.

"Look!" he said, holding his hand steady, "No tremors."

John spent his days in the TV room, eating meals, watching TV, reading, talking with his wife, and receiving visitors. Then, at night, he walked across the length of the house to his bedroom.

But this posed a problem.

The walk required that John walk from a carpeted surface, to a smooth wood-floored foyer, back to carpet. Not easy for someone with Parkinson's disease. John often "froze" and "got stuck" before moving from one surface to the next. The visual change seemed to distract him and it was difficult for him to move smoothly from one floor-type to the next. As the disease progressed and John got weaker, he would freeze more often, whether the surface changed or not. What should have taken a couple minutes instead took 10-15.

John was a musician and he loved Sousa. I forget whose idea it was (I think it was John's), but one day I started singing "Stars and Stripes Forever." In the music, there's a brief 4-bar introduction before the main melody starts. While I sang that introduction, John would start marching in place to the beat. Once the melody started, we'd be off!

I'd sing Sousa as John marched down to his bedroom. And guess what happened? No freezing. Smooth steps. Easy transitions from carpet to wood and back again. Less time to get to the bedroom. It was amazing.

I never knew why this worked until I started my graduate training at Colorado State University. It turns out that our motor system entrains to a rhythmic pulse. Think about it. If you are walking down the street and "hearing" a song in your head, you're walking to the beat. You don't realize you're doing it. It's natural and it's unconscious.

A steady rhythmic pulse acts as an external timekeeper for our motor system. It helps to structure and organize how we move. This is especially true to movements that are inherently rhythmic--walking, for example. A typical walking pattern is steady and predictable. Left - Right - Left - Right - Left - Right. If you play music with a strong, steady beat, your body will want to walk to that beat.

Our motor system is very sensitive to an auditory input. This sensitivity starts early. A story came out just yesterday about researchers in England who found that babies as young as 5 months move to music.

Zentner and his colleagues studied children aged 5 months to 2 years. They videotaped the babies listening to classical music, rhythmic beats, and speech, then had professional dancers analyze the movements to see how well they matched the music. The researchers found that babies moved their bodies to music much more often than to speech. The babies also smiled more frequently when their dancing matched the music.

We don't yet know why our bodies are sensitive to moving to music, but the implications are exciting. Rhythm can be used to help train the motor systems of people with neurological impairments: Parkinson's, stroke, autism, Huntington's, cerebral palsy, and a host of other disorders.

And sometimes it's just fun. Like watching baby Cory dance to Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies":

This reminds me of the woman who froze in the movie Awakenings (based on the book by Oliver Sacks). Robin Williams' character painted designs on the floor to overcome this. And it seems that Mr. Holland's Opus had a young man who benefited from learning to beat a drum. Nice article - thanks.

Glad you both enjoyed the article! J--it's great that this situation reminded you of the one in "Awakenings." Both utilize a strategy (1 rhythmic, 1 visual) that help someone overcome a difficulty. Oliver Sacks has written beautifully about music and it's impact on our brains and bodies many times--most recently in "Musicophilia." I think you may enjoy it!

When my two kids were very young and I need to get them both moving in the same direction (off to school, back to home...), I trained them to stand in line and march, while I chanted things like. Hmp, two, three, four, hmp, two, three, four....
Onlookers sometimes mistook this as me being overly strict, but the kids and I always did it with a silly smile. It was just a way of saying, "alright kids, we really need to get going now". It got their attention and got them going, while allowing them to do some silly role playing that they enjoyed. Better than resorting to yelling at them.

My 7 year old daughter has a congenital brain defect that affects her gross motor skills, among other things. For several years we didn't know if she would walk. Now she runs, jumps and --yes-- dances. In addition to the brain defect, she also has a congenital love for music which has motivated her to improve in many ways, the cutest of which has been her ability to control her hips so that she could "shake her bootie." I'm excited that there are formal studies regarding the medicine of music. Nice article.

Great article Kimberly! How important it is for the people sharing their stories in these comments to have a forum to share these beautiful stories in! Keep sharing the power of music therapy my friend!

Thank you all for the wonderful stories you've shared. It never ceases to amaze me how music touches us in so many ways. I will continue to work to provide you with more information. Thanks for your support!

Enjoyed reading your insightful article, Kimberly. Music has always been a deep and powerful force in my life, both consciously and unconsciously. I think it connects us as human beings, tells us stories, evokes emotion and memories, provides a "soundtrack" for our lives. I've never thought about it, but it makes sense that music/rhythm could be used as therapy in the way you describe. It's fascinating that our minds work in this way.

Had I not become a psychologist, my other career choice would have been a musician -- I think music is as essential a part of life as movement, language, and interpersonal connection -- which is to say, vital. Always glad for your insights.